Coco Oakridge delivers on luxury and location

Go back 60 years and much of Vancouver’s urban planning was focused on single-family homes with big yards in suburban neighbourhoods. The percentage of people who owned a car was increasing rapidly and the city was building new roads to accommodate them.

Fast forward to the present day and it appears everything is being turned on its head. Land is scarce and correspondingly expensive, giving rise to a new style of urban, multi-family living focused on walkable neighbourhoods and plentiful local amenities. Car ownership is also falling as people transition to car-sharing and rapid transit.

The new Oakridge Town Centre planned for the neighbourhood around Cambie and 41st Avenue is a perfect example of this urban transformation, and Coco Oakridge – a 57-home project by Keltic Canada Development – is set to take full advantage.

“The big story with Coco Oakridge is its location,” said Magnum Projects’ Dave Bauman, who is marketing the project on behalf of the developers. “It will be just steps away from the new Oakridge Town Centre, the most extensive urban development in Metro Vancouver as envisioned in the official community plan from the City of Vancouver.”

“It’s a $15-billion urban transformation of the Oakridge area,” Bauman added. “Vancouver’s top-tier developers own land in this neighbourhood and over the next five or 10 years it will be fully developed into the next big urban hub in the city. The key piece of the puzzle is the Oakridge 41st Canada Line station being right nearby, which provides rapid access to downtown Vancouver or Richmond and YVR airport.”

The numbers associated with this vision of urban renewal are eye-opening. There will be 1.2 million square feet of indoor and outdoor retail, two major daycare facilities, the largest branch of the Vancouver Public Library on the west side and a new home for the Goh Ballet performing arts school.

Along with the expanded retail offering, the development is set to include new office space, 10 towers of varying heights up to 44 storeys and three mid-rise buildings. The housing on offer will include social housing, market-rate rental units and market-rate homes for sale.

The new development will also include a community centre, a seniors’ centre and a nine-acre public park located partly on the rooftop of the mall and partly at ground level. The existing Oakridge mall will remain open during the construction of the new community, which is expected to last six and a half years. Coco Oakridge will be ready far earlier than that, however, with completion of the one- to three-bedroom concrete homes expected in the summer of 2020.

An artist’s rendering of Coco Oakridge, a project from Keltic Development Canada. [PNG Merlin Archive]PNG

“Our one-bedroom units will appeal to young people who are looking for easy access to rapid transit and a great west side location,” Bauman said. “For the two-bedroom homes, we’re looking at move-up buyers, likely dual-income couples. Then there are some larger townhomes on the back side that will be ideal for young families.”

Coco Oakridge homes will range in size from 520 to 1,610 square feet. In total, the project will consist of seven townhomes and 50 apartments.

The interior design at Coco Oakridge is the work of Christina Oberti, who has selected Scavolini-branded kitchens with Gaggenau appliance packages. These include gas cooktops, electric wall ovens, 30-inch fridge freezers, 36-inch Zephyr Siena stainless steel hood fans and 24-inch ENERGY STAR-certified dishwashers. There will be Caesarstone quartz countertops with matching full-height backsplashes, quartz kitchen islands and integrated LED lighting.

The Scavolini theme continues in the bathrooms, where Coco Oakridge residents will get marble vanity countertops, herringbone wall tiles and marble shower bases. There are Kohler under-mount lavatories, Grohe chrome faucets and accents and soaker tubs. Completing the package are large-format porcelain tiles on all walls and floors, recessed wall niches in seamless porcelain tile and frameless 10-mm glass enclosures on all showers.

Coco Oakridge, a name that is a play on Cambie-Oakridge, according to Bauman, is just one of many Lower Mainland projects Keltic Canada Development is working on.

“This is an opportunity to get in at an early stage of what will be a huge urban regeneration on a scale you rarely see in Canada,” said Bauman. “Coco Oakridge gives you quiet luxury and boutique living, but it’s also just steps away from all these great amenities – parks, restaurants, shopping, arts, culture and rapid transit.”

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